


One Drunken Kiss

by SpiritLock



Series: Cullen Rutherford & Krista Trevelyan [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alcohol, F/M, Herald's Rest, Humor, Kissing, Mild Smut, POV Inquisitor, Repressed Emotion, Scars, Secret Past, Temple of Sacred Ashes, The Hanged Man (Dragon Age), Thief, bar brawl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-28 03:00:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5075218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiritLock/pseuds/SpiritLock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Maker, there was a pattern here. Alcohol and wanting to kiss Cullen. Except back then she didn’t know who he was.</em> </p><p>Now Inquisitor, Krista Trevelyan has sought to keep her past hidden, a past which included being in Kirkwall.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	One Drunken Kiss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eravalefantasy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eravalefantasy/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Nothing like the Sun](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4718333) by [Eravalefantasy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eravalefantasy/pseuds/Eravalefantasy). 



> Many thanks to Eravalefantasy for providing the inspiration for this one shot. If you haven't read Nothing Like the Sun, I would strongly recommend you read it. The other bit came from some dialogue that never appeared in the game.  
> .  
> .

Just one drunken kiss, what’s the harm, she’d thought. Except there had been an earlier kiss, much, much earlier, but not quite drunken. Maker, there was a pattern here. Alcohol and wanting to kiss Cullen. Except back then in Kirkwall she didn’t know who he was. 

This time, Hawke arriving had stopped her, so she’d left them. Sweet Andraste, was she making more of this than she should? Cullen wouldn’t remember a random kiss from a strange woman during a bar brawl all those months ago. Would he? It was just the way he sometimes looked at her that made her wonder.

Krista was worried that they would find out what she’d been doing for the last five years. If they found out their Inquisitor was previously a notorious thief, how would that make the Inquisition look? The five year gap in her life had been initially prompted questions. Because she’d never used her name, they couldn’t pin her down to places, times. She’d not lied, just omitted key details from the information she did give. Being in Kirkwall was one of those omissions.

Back in her quarters now, still trembling, she thought back to how she’d got to this point... 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Krista had just finished a job at the Viscount’s office, and had passed on the object she’d been commissioned to acquire. She had a few hours free before she was due to sail out of Kirkwall. She’d found a tavern, the Hanged Man, not too far from the docks, and settled down to her solitary celebration in a quiet corner. A few drinks, some food and then she would be off. That was the plan. 

Krista was people watching, just keeping an eye out to make sure there was no sign of trouble. She knew if a brawl broke out, in most places the City Guard would be called in, and she didn’t want to get caught up in that. If it looked like something was beginning to start, she would try and get out quickly. She hadn’t liked taking this job after what she’d heard about Kirkwall, but the commission was excellent and she needed money.

And that was when he walked in, and Krista couldn’t keep her eyes off him. For the first time in ages, a flutter went through her when she looked at this man. He was good looking, built beautifully, tall, blond, but there was something more, something she couldn’t put her finger on. She was close enough to hear him, but not what he was saying, and Maker, that voice. He was standing near the bar waiting. For someone or something, she didn’t know, but he wasn’t drinking. But she had been, just enough to smooth away some of her usual caution. 

Her distraction meant she missed the danger signals. The noise of a chair falling backwards onto the floor, was the first she realised that something was wrong. Krista’s instincts kicked in, and she was up trying to move around the fight now taking place. She’d almost managed to get past, when the pair brawling crashed against a table that hit her, sending her skittering across the floor, landing against the blond man. She grabbed onto him to hold herself steady.

Now pressed up against him, she could see his face more clearly. That face was just asking to be kissed. The amber coloured eyes, the scar above his lip, and the little cleft in his chin. And that was when her caution slipped away. In that moment she moved her hands up, and dragged him down by the head, to kiss her. He was caught off guard and didn’t resist. Krista pulled back. “Nice scar” she said winking and left the tavern. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked out.

It was dark outside, but she headed for the shadows anyway, making her way to the docks. She was smiling because she’d got to kiss that beautiful man. It was reckless she knew, but soon she would be on her way to Ferelden, away from here. When she arrived at the docks, there was still some time before embarkation, so she found a spot to wait. It felt chillier closer to the sea, and she wrapped her cloak around her.

Once in Denerim, she would need to find her contact there, in the Gnawed Noble tavern. Maker, did all these places have ridiculous names? She shook her head, smiling. It was then she heard voices approaching. Initially she thought they were more passengers, but then heard the clanking metal and saw the Templar armour glinting under the lamplight. It was easy to recognise, her sister was a Templar. She missed Cara, it had been so long. 

And then, she heard his voice, the blond man in the tavern. He was with them. Krista heard one of them address him as Knight-Captain. Shit! Of all the people to kiss, it had to be a Templar in civilian clothes. To move away would look suspicious, but she didn’t want to be seen by him. She pulled her hood over her head, and clasped her cloak as if she were cold. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see he was looking in her direction; she hoped he didn’t recognise her. He then turned away, and left with the others, she guessed for the Gallows.

Too close Krista, too close.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She was still in Ferelden when she got word that Cara would be attending the Conclave. Krista knew about the Mage-Templar war, but luckily had managed to skirt around the worst of it. This was a chance for peace, Cara had said, but also a chance for them finally meet again. What she didn’t relish was using her real name. But there was no other option; she had to. As a Trevelyan, she could get in.

What nobody could have foreseen was the explosion that happened. Krista had woken up chained, with a burning mark on her hand, shouted at, accused of murdering the whole conclave, and threatened with execution. And that was just the start of her day. 

Dragged from one place to another, closing rifts, picking up various assorted others, more threats of execution. Second hand weapons, that were nowhere near as good as her own. The throbbing pain from the mark on her hand, the mark that was killing her. She felt like shit.

Wonderful, she thought, it really couldn’t get any worse. This was probably the worst day of her life.

They were making their way back to the Temple of Scared Ashes. Krista knew that Cassandra was trying to get her there before she died. Just before they reached the actual Temple, they closed another rift. 

And that was when she saw him, the man she never expected to see again. The blond man from Kirkwall, the Knight-Captain, with that scar. Again that same flutter she felt all those months ago. Krista still couldn’t work out what it was about him that captivated her, what drew her to him.

He was watching Krista as Cassandra spoke to him. From the conversation, she gathered he was now a Commander. Commander of what, she thought?

He showed no sign of recognising her. Last time she saw him she had short, cropped black hair, dyed for the job. Now she was back to her normal blonde, had let her hair grow and was wearing make-up. She breathed a silent sigh of relief. But then again, why would he recognise her? It was only a random encounter. She was worrying too much. 

They were soon on their way. As Krista reached to close the huge rift in the Temple her hand flared, the rift was really pulling at her now and the pain was agonising. It finally closed and disappeared with a huge boom. 

Everything began swirling around her and went dark. She thought then, this was the end of her, but it wasn’t. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Crestwood, they had killed their first dragon, and Bull was ecstatic. All the way back to Skyhold he went on and on about a celebration. Krista had to smile. Bull was so sensible, yet such a child as well. Crestwood was their first real mission after Haven. 

So they celebrated, with some revolting concoction called Maraas Lok. By the third drink, her throat was gone, and her brain slightly addled. She wasn’t exactly drunk, but not exactly sober either.

And that’s when Cullen came in to the tavern and was persuaded to join them. He coughed and spluttered with the rest of them, drinking this poisonous swill. Watching him smiling, her usual restraint floated way on a sea of Maraas Lok. Right then, Krista made up her mind she would kiss Cullen again. And she thought she had the perfect excuse.

She had wanted to kiss him for months now, ever since she joined the Inquisition. Seeing him every day if she was in Haven or Skyhold, she got to know him. At some point along this path, liking him led to falling in love with him. 

Trying to keep it hidden wasn’t easy. Bull and Dorian, her closest friends, had guessed, and had tried to persuade her to talk to him. They seemed convinced he harboured feelings for her as well. Her excuse was that she was the Inquisitor and it wouldn’t be right. That was only partly true. She was also cautious just in case he did remember her.

But that night in the Herald’s Rest, that caution remained parked on her chair in the tavern, as she put on her cloak and went after Cullen when he left.

He was almost at the top of the stairs when she called out “Cullen, do you have some time?”

“Of course, Inquisitor” he replied.

Krista ran up the stairs to join him, feeling a little lightheaded as she reached him near the top of the stairs. Cullen walked up onto the battlements and she followed.

“I wondered if we could talk” she said, slightly breathless. Maker, that sounded vague, she thought. She hesitated, just staring at him, her courage now starting to ebb away. Her perfect excuse, that seemed so good in the tavern, began to sound ridiculously weak. If she was going to do it she had to do it now.

“There was something you wished to discuss?” he asked looking at her, rubbing his neck. 

“I realised that...I’d never thanked you properly for saving me after Haven...and...I wanted to...let you know how grateful I am.” Her heart was now racing, she still wanted to kiss him, but was now absurdly nervous. Krista stepped forward and stood right in front of him. Her breathing accelerated as she stared into his face. He was now staring back at her.

Maker, he was beautiful. She lifted up her arms, and took hold of his head, as she had before. He didn’t pull away as she thought he might. Gently she brought his head down, and was just about to kiss him, when she heard Hawke. 

“Commander, Inquisitor, there you both are.” he said. 

Krista dropped her hands and moved away quickly. She turned to see Hawke reach the top of the stairs. Krista guessed he hadn’t seen them. He came over to where they were standing. 

Cullen cleared his throat. “Hawke, were you looking for us?” he asked. There was a very slight waver in his voice.

Hawke smiled “Actually, just you Cullen.”

Krista decided this was a good opportunity to escape. “I’ll leave you two to it then. Good night both” her voice not as steady as she tried to make it. She pulled her hood over her head, shaking now and practically bolted back down the stairs. Maker, what did you nearly just do, she thought. She felt Cullen was still watching her, so she dropped out of sight. In this state, she couldn’t risk running into anyone, so she stealthed and went back to her room. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Krista was standing propped against the balcony door, in her darkened room, with just light from the fire. She was still a tad shaky, when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. As she turned, she saw Cullen emerge. Maker, what was he doing here?

“Cullen?” she asked, now confused.

He looked at her cloak, thrown over the half wall on her way in. Then he marched up to her, grabbed her face and kissed her. Krista was so stunned, she just stood there. He pulled away, then stroked her cheek, winked and said “Nice scar, you didn’t have that before.”

A smile came over her face, but “How...when?” was all that came out. 

Cullen put his hands on her hips and drew her closer. “That day at the Temple, I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. Afterwards I just felt I’d seen you before, but didn’t know if it was real or not. Your hair is different, and that threw me. And since then, sometimes the way you watched me, made me think you felt something too. But you never made a move, so neither did I. Honestly; I even began to wonder if I was imagining it. But tonight, when you held my head, it came back to me. That and when you lifted the hood over your head. As soon as I could I ditched Hawke and came here.”

Krista stroked his scar. “I’m surprised you remember, it was months ago“ she said watching Cullen smile.

“You remembered me, didn’t you?” he answered.

“I honestly didn’t expect to see you again, after Kirkwall. I left by ship that night” she replied. “But you’re a hard man to forget Commander.”

“I thought it might be you at the docks, but I wasn’t entirely sure at the time.” he stroked her face. “So, what do you want to do? I’m guessing there was a reason you didn’t want to tell me about Kirkwall.” 

Krista realised he was giving her an option now. “I need to think about that one.” She paused. “But what I can tell you, is that I’m glad that you kissed me. I’ve been dying to kiss you again for so long now.”

Cullen gave a little laugh “You’re not the only one” he replied, watching her.

Krista took his head again, dragged his mouth to hers, and kissed him. This one became fierce and passionate, full of months of repressed emotions for both of them. Cullen pulled her against him. Maker, she wanted to do more than kiss him now, and judging by his reaction, so did he. Krista pulled back slightly, and whispered, her voice thick with desire. “I want you.”

“I’m yours” he replied. His tone was soft, but she couldn’t mistake the hunger.

Cullen picked her up and carried her to the bed, laid her down, and then got onto the bed next to her.

Krista smiled at him. “Cullen...you do realise we’re still dressed. Isn’t this sort of thing supposed to happen when we’re naked.” She giggled.

Cullen buried his face against her neck, “Maker’s breath! I was just getting round to that. I see you’re still impetuous then, under all that restraint.” he replied, now kissing her neck.

Krista laughed “Take off my clothes and I’ll really show you impetuous, Commander.” She felt Cullen smiling at that.

“I’d think I’d like that, Inquisitor” he said lustfully.

By the time the second kiss had come, it couldn’t exactly be described as drunken anymore and she was glad. She wanted to enjoy and remember every moment of this.


End file.
